


I'll give your heart some time

by gustin_puckerman



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 18:02:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3391034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gustin_puckerman/pseuds/gustin_puckerman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He likes Caitlin smiling. He likes her happy. Or Barry ponders over one Dr. Caitlin Snow. ―Barry/Caitlin. Post-1x14 "Fallout". Heavy mentions of Ronnie. One shot. Edited.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll give your heart some time

Joe likes Caitlin.

Barry can see that, even in the short amount of time they've spent together. Joe likes people, Barry gets that. (The older guy just doesn't easily _trust_ them you know?) But then again, Joe's always nice to whoever's nice to Barry, and Caitlin's good to him. Heck, she saved his life more than he saved hers―and he's supposed to save a lot of lives. (Like, _hello_ , he's the hero!)

But it's okay, Barry guesses. Barry feels safe in the hands of his team. Her, being one of them. He likes to think that while people sees the Flash as Central City's hero, the team are his.

Anyway, Joe likes Caitlin. Barry knows this. And over the course of time they've spent together, Barry could see that Joe really _do_ like her. Genuinely.

It makes Barry feel proud, like a type of serenity he doesn't know exist when he sees Joe tilting his head back and laugh as Caitlin shares a story. It makes him feel _good_. And then Barry realises that he might just like _her_ , being there, in the house, in their (his) company and just... being _there_.

He likes her smiling. He likes her happy.

(Even when her fingers are entangled with Ronnie's.)

So he isn't that surprised to shuffle through the hall of his bedroom passing Iris' room to realise that there's a body hunching down on the floor besides from Iris' old bed. It doesn't take an ultimate genius to identify the brown curls with a name, a familiar face; he could feel his chest expands, his lungs weighing lighter. "Caitlin?"

"Hm? Oh, Barry!" She sounds pleasantly surprised, smiling in that way of hers that she usually does whenever Cisco drags them to the bar to  _not_ talk about work. "I thought you were supposed to be in your lab, working?"

"I clocked out early." He merely answers, walking in through the room that used to make his heart race whenever he passes it. Sometimes it still does. "How'd you get in here?"

"Joe let me in." She says proudly. (See? Joe likes her.) "I really... didn't expect you to be here." She shakes her head a little embarrassedly and looks around to the tiny mess and the tote bag she carries. "Sorry."

"No, no, don't be." He tries, smiling at her. "What're you doing here, really?"

"I came to check if Ronnie left more stuff. Or, well, if _I_ did. Also there's this book that I've found..." She shows him the book, one of Iris' old ones he realises― _Sophie Kinsella's I've Got Your Number_ ―and watches while she smiles guiltily some more. "I started reading. It was... well, it was interesting. And funny. I think I need humour in my life now."

"Oh Caitlin―"

"No, I'm fine." She assures him, stopping him mid-way to her, and nods a little. "Ronnie has to leave. I get it. Like I told Cisco this morning, I'm not... _heartbroken_. I'm fine."

"Are you?" He tries not to sound like a... well, like a _douchebag_ when he say it, he really was, taking that crucial step to sit next to her. There's a breath of relief that he sighs out when she lets him, her knees digging into his thigh as he sits down properly.

"I am." The smile she gives him is the smile he recognises fondly. Barry likes her smiling like that. When her eyes all squinted and her cheeks rise up to match her excitement. She looks... breathtaking, if he were to be honest. "I really am.” She says some more, “And he'll come back. This time... this time he's not dead. I got him back, Barry."

"Good." Barry releases automatically. "Now you know how _I_ feel."

She looks at him, then. _Really_ looks at him. And he knows that she gets that he’s referring to the time when she was kidnapped. Back when he got _her_ back. All okay and most importantly, _alive_. Then, smiles. But shyer now, ducking her head a little, like she’s embarrassed or something when she’s reminded of the horrendous event. "Thank you," she tells, nearly breathlessly and it makes Barry’s chest swirls weirdly. He tries not to think so much about it. "Without you, there wouldn't even be a _chance_ ―"

"Caitlin, don't―"

"No, Barry, let me thank you. Let me thank you." She repeats convincingly, bright brown eyes pleading to him, and he sighs, knowing immediately that when it comes to women, he's... well, he's helpless. That’s not exactly a secret. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Even if...," she slowly breathes, "Even if Ronnie _didn't_ come back, I'm glad you're here. I would've been... _happy_ either way. And you, you _make_ me happy. And, yeah, you make me have a life. Again."

He thinks about her words, lets his eyes fleet to where her hands are. "Yeah. I like you happy."

"And I like _you_ happy."

"And you _have_ a life." He tries jokingly, "You cook, you read, you help _me_..."

"Says the guy who lives on netflix!" She laughs, putting a hand in front of her mouth as she does so, scrunching up her nose a bit. Calming down, Barry takes a second look at her again, and feels... feels _happy_. He likes her, he's known that for a while. But maybe...?

"I'm glad I met you, Barry. I really did."

"Even with the constant doctoring?" He hooks up one edge of the lips playfully, watches as she smiles with that squinty-eyes, rising-cheek smile that he finds himself adoring more, before she rolls her eyes.

"Yes, even with the constant doctoring."

He ducks his head down, and slowly, carefully, catches her hands, clasps it carefully within his own. "I'm glad you didn't leave."

"Yeah," she squeezes his hand after a while, her voice a breath against the wind, "I'm glad too."

...

Joe likes Caitlin, yes, Barry figures this out.

But maybe Joe's not the only one.


End file.
